Mission

Video: About the Prize

The John P. McNulty Prize seeks to inspire individuals from around the world to make a real difference in their communities by recognizing the very best in high-impact leadership

The Prize aims to galvanize efforts to address the foremost social, economic and environmental challenges of our time by recognizing the best of the exceptional leadership projects undertaken by the Fellows of the Aspen Global Leadership Network.

The winner of the John P. McNulty Prize will receive a $100,000 award to further his or her leadership project. The Prize will be paid directly to the project over two years and is contingent upon continued progress. Each of the other laureates will receive a $10,000 award.

John P. McNulty

In his professional life as in every other aspect of his life John was a force of nature – a person overflowing with vitality, love, conviction and total commitment. Interactions with John were never dull – debating inspired him and gave him limitless opportunities to flex his intellectual muscle. He was unable to engage in anything or with anyone without immersing his total self – mind, body and spirit.

Some described it as intensity – an enthusiasm that John brought to every enterprise. He had great vision and held himself and others to the highest standards in executing that vision. He did everything wholeheartedly. While for competitors it meant almost certain defeat, for clients it meant great advice and flawless execution. For colleagues it meant a committed mentor who brooked no trace of mediocrity, but who gave everything of himself to inspire, cajole and challenge in order to help people advance to and beyond their potential. And for family and friends, it meant steadfast loyalty.

Perhaps it was his Irish heritage. Born in 1952, John was the first of six children of Nora and Charles McNulty, who had newly emigrated from Donegal, Ireland. In a touch of irony given his later career, John’s mother's first job was as a housekeeper for a Wall Street investment banker. His father worked as a landscaper and a truck driver. John grew up in a row house in southwest Philadelphia, where his parents entrusted him to pay the mortgage and to buy meat from the butcher. The lessons he learned – how business worked, but more importantly how to interact with a wide range of people – never left him.

John met Anne Welsh at the first dance of his sophomore year at Cardinal O’Hara high school, and they began a singular, intense, devoted partnership that would last for 37 years. At Saint Joseph’s University in Philadelphia, John turned his energies to student government, and was elected president of the student body. After graduation in 1974, John joined the accounting firm Arthur Andersen, earning his CPA. He and Anne both earned their MBAs from the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania in December of 1979.

From Wharton he joined Goldman Sachs, working with high-net-worth and institutional clients in Philadelphia. In 1986, he moved to Miami to manage and significantly expand the Goldman Sachs office there. He relished not only the chance (and challenge) to be in charge - something he always welcomed - but also the opportunity to hire and train a group of young associates to grow the business.

John returned to New York in late 1989 to create and manage the firm’s Special Investments Group, raising significant new outside capital for Asset Management and the Merchant Investment Management Division. John became a partner of Goldman Sachs in 1990, and was named co-head of its Asset Management Division in 1994. He was then asked to head the newly created Investment Management Division in 1998, combining Asset Management and Private Wealth Management.

Under John’s leadership, Goldman Sachs built a global investment management business that became a significant and integral part of the firm. Largely through organic growth, at an unprecedented rate, John and his management team increased assets by over 40% per annum, expanding a predominantly US - money market/fixed income business to one that was globally diversified, with a broad range of equity and alternative asset products.

"In the annals of the history of Goldman Sachs, pages will be written about John McNulty and his vision for our business, most notably in the area of asset management. Through the sheer force of his person John was the primary architect and the leading builder of an asset management business, which is now an essential and very successful component of the Goldman Sachs franchise. John’s intellect was awesome; joined with his innate common sense and an uncommon wisdom about people, he was the guy whose judgment you sought. Noone read a person or a situation faster or more accurately than did John McNulty. His understanding of the complexities of people and his emotional maturity made him not only a great raconteur, which he was, but a great assessor of talent. It is not surprising that many of Goldman Sachs’ current leaders were handpicked and mentored by John"

- Hank Paulson

At every step of his career, John delighted in serving as a mentor to younger associates, creating opportunities for them, and marveling at their talents. He inspired them to take risks, and challenged them to tackle problems creatively and enthusiastically. Like a proud parent, he drew intense satisfaction in their accomplishments and attributed his successes to their efforts.

John retired in July of 2001 from active participation as a partner after a 23-year career, including seven years on the management committee for the firm, he and remained a senior director of Goldman Sachs. Along with the desire to spend more time with his children, John wanted to shift his focus from doing well to doing good.

Characteristically, John threw himself full force into his new pursuits. He began by joining the board of the Aspen Institute. He engaged in their seminars, and joined in the planning for the new building on the Aspen campus. Most of all, he wholeheartedly supported the Institute’s commitment to values-based leadership, especially its mission to encourage young leaders around the world to “translate thought into action.”

John recognized his academic roots by serving on the boards of trustees of both the University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton School, and on the Board of Saint Joseph’s University. He also served on the board of directors of Carnival Corporation, of Allied World Assurance Holdings, Ltd., and on the board of governors of the Investment Company Institute.

Perhaps no project meant more to John than those to help New York-area children, particularly those of immigrant families like his own, and those children who had been traumatized by the attacks of September 11th, 2001. It was while exploring funding of a counseling program for children affected by 9/11 that John learned about the New York University Child Study Center, of which he became an active board member, committed to the Center’s objective of helping children and families cope with mental health and learning issues.

Together with Anne, John also became patron of a small Catholic School in New York’s Chinatown - St Joseph’s School - which like many downtown schools had been adversely affected by 9/11. John took a direct interest in the activities of the students, especially recent immigrants, and proposed various creative ways to recruit new students, including creating and publicizing merit scholarships.

"John’s energy, his quick mind, and his desire to share what he knew challenged me and everyone at St Joseph’s to excel. But he also allowed us to be who we are as a school community and as individuals."

-Sister Deborah Lopez

Returning to Florida, he and Anne quickly became active in their new community, becoming trustees of the Naples Winter Wine Festival, a private organization which runs the largest charity wine auction in the world, for the benefit of the underprivileged and at-risk children of Collier County, Florida.

John died suddenly in late 2005, leaving an enormous absence. The John P. McNulty prize has been created by his family, friends and colleagues to recognize his contributions in leadership, his creativity, his energy, and the spark he carried to ignite that in others. Through the prize we recognize the same extraordinary spirit in others, and continue his legacy.

The Aspen Institute is based on leadership, leadership that comes from values. And that's what John McNulty was all about. He was a great mentor to people. He loved the idea of leadership, and as we were building this leadership network, it was his enthusiasm that inspired us. Walter Isaacson

The Jury

Brizio Biondi-Morra

Brizio Biondi-Morra is a leading expert and widely respected author on the subject of Latin American development. He currently serves as the President of AVINA, a foundation that partners with civil society and business leaders to help them achieve their goals in 14 Latin American countries. Dr. Biondi-Morra is the former President and current chair of INCAE, the leading business school in Latin America. He has also served as the chair of Fundes International and as the Director of Oxfam America’s Board, and has doctorates in Business Administration from Harvard and Economics from Bocconi University in Italy.

Madeleine K. Albright

Madeleine K. Albright is Chair of Albright Stonebridge Group, a global strategy firm, and Chair of Albright Capital Management LLC, an investment advisory firm focused on emerging markets. Dr. Albright was the 64th Secretary of State of the United States. From 1993 to 1997, Dr. Albright served as the U.S. Permanent Representative to the United Nations and as a member of the President’s Cabinet. She is a Distinguished Professor in the Practice of Diplomacy at the Georgetown University. Dr. Albright earned a B.A. from Wellesley College, and Master’s and Doctorate degrees from Columbia University’s Department of Public Law and Government.

Olara A. Otunnu

Olara A. Otunnu is a distinguished international statesman who is widely acclaimed for his diplomatic acumen and negotiating skills. Currently Under-Secretary General, Special Representative to the U.N. Secretary General for Children and Armed Conflict, Otunnu has served as President of the International Peace Academy, Uganda's Minister of Foreign Affairs, Uganda's Permanent Representative to the United Nations, President of the UN Security Council, Chairman of the UN Commission on Human Rights, and Vice President of the UN General Assembly. Otunnu was educated at King's College (Budo), Makerere University, Oxford University, and Harvard University, where he was a Fulbright Scholar.

Shashi Tharoor

An elected Member of Parliament, former Minister of State for External Affairs and former Under-Secretary-General of the United Nations, Shashi Tharoor is the prize-winning author of twelve books, both fiction and non-fiction. A widely-published critic, commentator and columnist, Shashi Tharoor served the United Nations during a 29-year career in refugee work, peace-keeping, the Secretary-General’s office and heading communications and public information. In 2006 he was India’s candidate to succeed Kofi Annan as UN Secretary-General, and emerged a strong second out of seven contenders. He has won India’s highest honor for Overseas Indians, the Pravasi Bharatiya Samman, and numerous literary awards, including a Commonwealth Writers’ Prize.

Anne Welsh McNulty

Anne Welsh McNulty established the John P. McNulty Prize in 2007 in honor and memory of her late husband and brings her intimate knowledge of his spirit and inspiration to the selection process.
McNulty is Managing Partner of JBK Partners, with businesses including investment management and philanthropy. Before she and her husband founded JBK Partners, Anne was a Managing Director of Goldman Sachs. She serves as trustee on various boards, including the Aspen Institute, the Naples Winter Wine Festival, the Metropolitan Opera of New York, and the Wharton School of the University of Pennsyvania. Anne earned her MBA at the Wharton School and served as Valedictorian at Villanova University.

Previousjuriesincluded:

Sir Richard Branson

Sir Richard Branson is a flamboyant British entrepreneur with a seemingly insatiable appetite for starting new businesses. His internationally recognized brand "Virgin" is splashed across everything from credit cards, to airlines and music "megastores". Branson is continuously seeking new business opportunities and loves a good challenge, especially when he enters a market dominated by a few major players. His entrepreneurial ways began early when he was just 16 and was publishing a student magazine. Branson did not go on to graduate school but in 1970 the now famous Virgin brand had its beginnings in the form of a discount records mail order venture that he and his friend Nik Powell worked on.

Bill Gates, Sr.

Bill Gates, Sr. brings a distinguished career in law and many years of public service to his role as Co-Chair of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. Bill serves as co-chair of the board of Thrive by Five Washington, the state’s public-private partnership for early learning. He is also a co-founder of the Initiative for Global Development, a group of national, civic and political leaders urging the U.S. Government to increase foreign assistance spending to combat global poverty. Bill earned his bachelor’s and law degrees from the University of Washington.

Mary Robinson

Mary Robinson, the former President of Ireland (1990-1997), and more recently United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (1997-2002), currently brings her experience in international affairs and as a barrister, academic, and legislator to the Ethical Globalization Initiative where she is Executive Director. The aim of the Initiative is to integrate the norms and standards of human rights into the globalization process and to support capacity building, with an initial focus on Africa. Robinson’s areas of expertise include: international human rights, capacity building in good governance in developing countries, and women in leadership.

Judith Rodin

Judith Rodin is a leader in philanthropy and education. In 2005 Dr. Rodin became the first female President of the Rockefeller Foundation, bringing its 96-year-old mission to 'promote the well-being of humanity' into the globalized era. From 1994-2004 she was President of the University of Pennsylvania. The first female head of an Ivy League university, Dr. Rodin tripled the endowment, founded interdisciplinary studies and partnered with Philadelphia and local businesses to revitalize University City. A Penn undergraduate alumna, Dr. Rodin received her PhD from Columbia University, and has authored over 200 articles and 12 books, most recently The University & Urban Renewal.

2014 Laureates Announcement

2013 Celebration of the McNulty Prize Winner

October 21, 2013

This year's winner was celebrated November 6, 2013 at a reception featuring an interview with the winner by Walter Isaacson at the Metropolitan Club in New York. See video of the interview here: http://youtu.be/AYRXn3Os2xk

The 2015 laureates are a group of four extraordinary leaders who bring the spirit of innovation and excellence that characterized their success in the private sector…

The 2015 laureates are a group of four extraordinary leaders who bring the spirit of innovation and excellence that characterized their success in the private sector…

Meet the 2015 John P. McNulty Prize Laureates and hear them reflect on their experiences founding and leading high impact organizations that are addressing t...

Meet the 2015 John P. McNulty Prize Laureates and hear them reflect on their experiences founding and leading high impact organizations that are addressing t...

Meet the 2015 John P. McNulty Prize Laureates and hear them reflect on their experiences founding and leading high impact organizations that are addressing t...

6:00 PM MDT Guns in the Hands of Artists: A DiscussionGuns In The Hands of Artists is a community-based social activist artistic project that involves taking guns off the streets and transforming them into works of art that comment on the issue of guns and gun violence in American society. This exhi…

Get the whole picture - and other photos from Henry Crown Fellows

The Ashesi University Foundation is a US non-profit 501 (c) 3 organization, based in Seattle Washington that connects a global community of donors, friends, volunteers, and trustees to Ashesi University College in Ghana.

2015 Laureates

Harambee Youth Employment Accelerator

South Africa

Nicola Galombik

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Africa Leadership Initiative South Africa

With her broad expertise in the business sector and experience in the public and social sectors, NicolaGalombik created Harambee Youth Employment Accelerator, a public-private job placement and employability program to solve two crucial challenges facing South Africa: a surplus of unemployed disadvantaged youth excluded from the labor market, and a shortage of work-ready young people for entry level jobs.

B Lab

USA

Jay Coen Gilbert, Andrew Kassoy & Bart Houlahan

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Henry Crown Fellowship

Entrepreneurs Jay Coen Gilbert, Andrew Kassoy, and Bart Houlahan co-founded B Lab, a nonprofit that serves a global movement of people using business as a force for good, supporting the development of a new economic paradigm in which companies measure their impact on society and the environment with as much rigor as they manage their profitability.

Fish Forever

USA

Brett Jenks

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Catto Fellowship

Conservationist BrettJenks founded the Fish Forever alliance to reverse the global decline of small-scale fisheries and tropical marine habitats by empowering local communities to protect and manage the resources they depend on, so that both people and nature can thrive.

Nutrivida

Gisela Sánchez

Central America Leadership Initiative

Engineer and food industry executive Gisela Sánchez has pioneered a line of fortified food products, Nutrivida, designed to eliminate malnutrition, particularly in children.

Engineer and food industry executive Gisela Sánchez has pioneered a line of fortified food products, Nutrivida, designed to eliminate malnutrition, particularly in children. The products are sold throughout Costa Rica by a variety of vendors and partners from local saleswomen to NGOs and major super stores.

B Lab

USA

Jay Coen Gilbert, Andrew Kassoy & Bart Houlahan

|

Henry Crown Fellowship

Entrepreneurs Jay Coen Gilbert, Andrew Kassoy, and Bart Houlahan co-founded B Lab, a nonprofit that serves a global movement of people using business as a force for good, supporting the development of a new economic paradigm in which companies measure their impact on society and the environment with as much rigor as they manage their profitability.

Bulungula Incubator

Eastern Cape, South Africa

Réjane Woodroffe

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Africa Leadership Initiative South Africa

Réjane Woodroffe left her career as an economist and investment manager to co-found the Bulungula Incubator, which has built a replicable, bottom-up model that places marginalized rural communities on secure footing.

Réjane Woodroffe left her career as an economist and investment manager to co-found the Bulungula Incubator, which has built a replicable, bottom-up model that places marginalized rural communities on secure footing.

The Bulungula Incubator currently works in four remote villages with a total population of 6,000 people, located in the former Transkei region of South Africa, an area declared a separate homeland under Apartheid. The region has been neglected by the central government of South Africa and deprived of development and basic infrastructure. Ninety-six percent of the people live on less than $6 a day, most adults are illiterate, only 10% have a high school education, and roads and electricity are rare.

The BI, in full partnership with community members, has created world-class preschool education system, mobilized community members to provide basic health care, and employment and created infrastructure and awareness to ensure clean water, among other significant achievements. The BI’s successes are carefully documented and the model is poised to be replicated throughout rural South Africa and beyond.

2014 Laureates

Youth Local Councils

Palestine

Lana Abu-Hijleh

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Middle East Leadership Initiative

Development expert Lana Abu-Hijleh is building the capacity of the next generation of Palestinian leaders, providing 7,000 youths a chance to participate in and run their own electoral process, respond to constituent concerns, plan and execute community imp

Development expert Lana Abu-Hijleh is building the capacity of the next generation of Palestinian leaders, providing 7,000 youths a chance to participate in and run their own electoral process, respond to constituent concerns, plan and execute community improvement projects, and shadow local ministers and council members to learn good governance practices and become engaged citizens in the political process.

Global Genes

US

John Crowley

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Henry Crown Fellowship

After his own movie-inspiring search to find a cure for his children, biotechnology CEO John Crowley turned his sights on helping other rare disease sufferers.

After his own movie-inspiring search to find a cure for his children, biotechnology CEO John Crowley turned his sights on helping other rare disease sufferers. He co-founded the Global Genes project to unite existing networks for over 7,000 rare diseases into a powerful alliance for advocacy, lobbying, information, support, and research sponsorship.

Isa Wali Empowerment Initiative

Nigeria

Maryam Uwais

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Nigeria Leadership Initiative

Responding to the crisis of women’s education and health in northern Nigeria, made infamous by Boko Haram, human rights attorney Maryam Uwais set up the Isa Wali Empowerment Initiative to give women and girls education in literacy, health and childbirth ass

Responding to the crisis of women’s education and health in northern Nigeria, made infamous by Boko Haram, human rights attorney Maryam Uwais set up the Isa Wali Empowerment Initiative to give women and girls education in literacy, health and childbirth assistance, income generating skills, and the voice to take more ownership and leadership in their communities.

Bulungula Incubator

Eastern Cape, South Africa

Réjane Woodroffe

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Africa Leadership Initiative South Africa

Réjane Woodroffe left her career as an economist and investment manager to co-found the Bulungula Incubator, which has built a replicable, bottom-up model that places marginalized rural communities on secure footing.

Réjane Woodroffe left her career as an economist and investment manager to co-found the Bulungula Incubator, which has built a replicable, bottom-up model that places marginalized rural communities on secure footing.

The Bulungula Incubator currently works in four remote villages with a total population of 6,000 people, located in the former Transkei region of South Africa, an area declared a separate homeland under Apartheid. The region has been neglected by the central government of South Africa and deprived of development and basic infrastructure. Ninety-six percent of the people live on less than $6 a day, most adults are illiterate, only 10% have a high school education, and roads and electricity are rare.

The BI, in full partnership with community members, has created world-class preschool education system, mobilized community members to provide basic health care, and employment and created infrastructure and awareness to ensure clean water, among other significant achievements. The BI’s successes are carefully documented and the model is poised to be replicated throughout rural South Africa and beyond.

2013 winner

Hope Credit Union

Mid South, US

William Bynum

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Henry Crown Fellowship

By opening the doors of economic opportunity to underserved individuals across the country, Hope has proven that financial institutions focused on community development can truly transform weak economies into stronger, sustainable ones, and improve the lives of thousands of people in the progress.

Burdened with the highest poverty rates in the nation, individuals, businesses and communities in the U.S. Mid South have long suffered from a lack of access to traditional financial services. Bynum, an advisor to Presidents Clinton, Bush and Obama on community development issues and Henry Crown Fellow of the Aspen Institute, founded HOPE to provide financial services that support jobs, housing, access to health care and other critical needs in the region’s most distressed communities.

Since 2008, as other institutions were closing their doors in underserved communities, HOPE has responded by extending a lifeline to residents in Mississippi, Louisiana, Tennessee and Arkansas. During this period, HOPE has expanded from three to 15 branches; increased its member-owners from 9,000 to 28,000; and closed more than 7,200 consumer, mortgage and small business loans totaling more than $260 million. HOPE is working to double the number of people and places it serves in “bank deserts” in the region.

"Hopelessness in a community is when there isn't a clear path to a better future. At Hope, we provide a vehicle for people to work together and boost each other up to that next rung on the economic ladder." William Bynum

2013 Laureates

Araku Originals Ltd

India

Manoj Kumar

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India Leadership Initiative

CEO of the Naandi Foundation, Kumar created Araku Originals Ltd to enable the inhabitants of the Araku Valley to change the economics of their coffee farms by harnessing the power of niche global markets to build economically and environmentally sustainable

CEO of the Naandi Foundation, Kumar created Araku Originals Ltd to enable the inhabitants of the Araku Valley to change the economics of their coffee farms by harnessing the power of niche global markets to build economically and environmentally sustainable sources of income.

Ocean Plastic Project

San Francisco, CA

Adam Lowry

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Catto Fellowship

Co-founder and Chief Greenskeeper of Method Products, Inc, Lowry adopted the Ocean Plastic Project from his experience in the Catto Fellowship.

Co-founder and Chief Greenskeeper of Method Products, Inc, Lowry adopted the Ocean Plastic Project from his experience in the Catto Fellowship. Through his company, Method, he’s pioneered a completely new technique and supply chain for harvesting, recycling and producing new plastic from the immense garbage patches polluting the Pacific.

FundWell

San Francisco, CA

Chinwe Onyeagoro

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Henry Crown Fellowship

Top management consultant and advisor to Fortune 1000 executives Onyeagoro noticed that qualified businesses in inner cities that should have access to affordable financing were being shut out of credit markets due to information inefficiencies, she co-foun

Top management consultant and advisor to Fortune 1000 executives Onyeagoro noticed that qualified businesses in inner cities that should have access to affordable financing were being shut out of credit markets due to information inefficiencies, she co-founded Fundwell with Sharon E. Jones to connect under-served business owners with lenders locally and nationwide as well as improve their financial health.

2012 winner

Aspire

India

Amit Bhatia

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India Leadership Initiative

Former founder and head of the McKinsey Knowledge Center, Amit Bhatia created Aspire to train students from rural and disadvantaged backgrounds to become English fluent, tech-savvy, problem-solving new hires ready to fuel India’s new economy.

2013 Update: Since winning the Prize in 2012, Aspire has expanded to over 60,000 students in 100+ colleges across 16 Indian states. To achieve their goal of training 1,000,000 students by 2022, Aspire has also expanded to teach life & employ­ability skills to K-12 students, and is now partnering with Aspen India to give high-school students values-based leadership.
2012: To enable India's youth to participate in the world economy, Aspire provides youth studying in semi-urban and rural educational institutions the knowledge, and behavioral skills to gain employment and succeed in their chosen career. Job seekers need to be fluent in English, able to problem-solve, and work in teams. They need the etiquette and the confidence to be able to interview, win a job and talk to clients.

Eighty-percent of Aspire students are first generation college students. They are children of farmers, fishermen, factory workers, without worldly education or exposure. they are from underdeveloped hard-to-access areas and themselves had no route to decent jobs. With a small transformation in their skills, millions of kids can be made relevant to the new economy. Aspire helps young people advance the last mile between having a degree and having a job.

Prior to founding Aspire, Bhatia served as CEO of WNS Knowledge Services, a division of WNS Inc, listed on the NYSE in 2007, and had successful stints at Freemarkets, American Express, and McKinsey & Co., where he created the McKinsey Knowledge Center. In 2007, Amit decided to leave the private sector and found Aspire, a for-profit social enterprise created to address the critical gap between education and industry.

India, a nation of 1.1 billion, has 320 million youths in schools and colleges. Unfortunately, less than 25 percent are employable due to knowledge, skills, and attitudinal gaps. To date, Aspire has trained over 52,000 students enrolled in 80 institutions across 16 Indian states.

Aspire is the bridge between basic education and the skills need to be employable, between the old and the new, between the big cities and the small towns,between the have's and the have-nots.

2012 Laureates

FUEL Trust

South Africa

Charles Luyckx & Gary Campbell

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Africa Leadership Initiative South Africa

Former top-level restaurant industry executives CHARLES LUYCKX & GARY CAMPBELL, created FUEL to ensure meals reach needy public school students so that they are able learn at school by providing systems analysis, support and training inside South Afric

Former top-level restaurant industry executives CHARLES LUYCKX & GARY CAMPBELL, created FUEL to ensure meals reach needy public school students so that they are able learn at school by providing systems analysis, support and training inside South Africa’s Dept of Education.

Vital Voices Guatemala

Guatemala

María Pacheco

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Central America Leadership Initiative

Rural development entrepreneur Maria Pacheco is working to end social and economic underutilization of women across Central America by connecting, bringing visibility to and training women leaders in all sectors.

Rural development entrepreneur Maria Pacheco is working to end social and economic underutilization of women across Central America by connecting, bringing visibility to and training women leaders in all sectors.

CAPTA

Panama

Hildegard Vásquez

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Central America Leadership Initiative

Architect and urban planning activist, Hildegard Vásquez, founded CAPTA to empower marginalized women with self-reliance and the practical skills to gain employment, break the cycle of poverty and retain their homes in rapidly gentrifying communities.

Architect and urban planning activist, Hildegard Vásquez, founded CAPTA to empower marginalized women with self-reliance and the practical skills to gain employment, break the cycle of poverty and retain their homes in rapidly gentrifying communities.

Africa Leadership Initiative South Africa

2013 Update: NEXT has come through a period of adversity since winning the Prize in 2011, as dedicated opposition from Nigeria's political and business elite (often indistinguishable) economically pressured NEXT and forced it to go on hiatus. It will re-emerge later this year as a pan-African online newspaper.

2011: Launched in 2008, NEXT is revolutionizing the Nigerian media. Dele and 55 young people are bringing honest, unbiased investigative reporting to a continent, country and city whose gigantic potential is stymied by corruption, the wealth gap, and an acceptance of the status quo. By its example, NEXT aims to change Africa¹s future by changing expectations, elevating debate, remaining incorruptible and holding elites and governments to account.

Running a 24-hour newsroom on diesel generators, due to a dilapidated electricity grid and attempts at sabotage. Despite efforts to quash their popularity, 234NEXT.com is the most trafficked news site in Nigeria. While Nigeria has one of the highest rates of newspaper consumption in the world, established papers are paid to keep big stories off the front page. The expectation that ads buy silence makes revenue a challenge for NEXT, but they’ve reported stories that have been buried for a generation in the face of constant official resistance.

NEXT revealed that almost the entire government (including three former presidents) had been bribed individually by Halliburton, and separately that the Oil Minister was sitting on foreign oil company boards in a blatant conflict of interest. No prosecutions or resignations occurred. NEXT revealed that despite the country's poverty, Nigeria’s legislators were the highest-paid (and least efficient) on the planet. When NEXT revealed that the nation’s biggest oil tycoon had ‘forgotten’ to pay $600 million in taxes over five years, officials were forced to seal off the tycoon’s residence to recover taxes - unprecedented for the wealthy in Nigeria. That story, although huge, was ignored by all other publications and lost NEXT scores of advertisers.

NEXT’s biggest scoop was that President Yar'Adua was secretly brain dead and not “returning soon from a Saudi hospital” as promised. Vice-President Goodluck Jonathan had not been authorized to step up, paralyzing the government and letting the First Lady take over the patronage machine. The story had immediate impact. Goodluck Jonathan was made acting president by the legislature (despite an attempt to install the comatose President in the executive residence) and State Security Services (SSS) forces stormed NEXT’s offices. The attack on NEXT was held off only by a few local police and the intervention of the SSS’s chief. Today Goodluck Jonathan is the elected President of Nigeria.

NEXT began on Twitter before launching a website and then the print newspaper. The site 234Next.com, receives over 3 million impressions and 600,000 unique visitors a month. As the technological landscape of Africa changes, NEXT is moving to an SMS and mobile-based platform. The economics of news are complicated by outright sabotage (paying newsmen to put NEXT under other papers or dump them), but NEXT has taken the steps to make sure its content remains accessible across Nigeria and Africa.

Ultimately, the goal of NEXT is to unshackle the immense potential of Nigeria by destroy both the elite's web of corrupt patronage and shake the Nigerian people out of their sense of helplessness to change their country.

“In a country where the ruling elite bribe the media to influence coverage, NEXT’s reporters can’t be bought or bullied. We look like revolutionaries for reporting the facts."Dele Olojede

Henry Crown Fellowship

2013 Update: Rocketship has only continued to expand since 2010, growing from 1,500 students to 3,800 with plans to reach 25,000 in five new cities by 2017. Rocketship's schools together constitute the best-performing California school district for low-income students, with 80% of students scoring proficient or advanced on standardized tests. In February 2013, co-founder John Danner stepped down after 8 years to begin Zeal, an online startup offering free education to a potential 2 billion students.

2010: Founded in 2006, Rocketship Education, is building a national network of high-performing urban college preparatory elementary charter schools. Rocketship’s mission is to eliminate the achievement gap in public education, by proliferating its network of K-5 charter schools in high-need neighborhoods throughout the country. Each Rocketship school has a clear and simple goal: that its students achieve grade-level proficiency upon graduation from elementary school. Rocketship's goal rests on evidence that the path toward college must begin much earlier in a child’s life. Research has shown that third grade achievement is highly correlated with college attendance and graduation. Rocketship’s first school, Rocketship Mateo Sheedy Elementary School (RMS), opened in August 2007 in San Jose, CA. Its second school, Rocketship Sí Se Puede Academy, opened in the fall of 2009; a third school, Rocketship Los Sueños Academy, opened in the fall of 2010. Two additional Rocketship schools will open in the fall of 2011; Rocketship will expand its network to 30 schools by 2015.

Rocketship’s success is due to three core values: Individualization, Leadership and Empowerment. Individualization is made possible by the hybrid school model, which combines traditional classroom teaching with individualized instruction using tutors and technology to meet the specific needs of each and every student. The hybrid school model confers significant advantages in three areas: academic achievement, teaching quality/leadership, and financial sustainability.

First, teachers can maximize classroom time for instruction, guided practice and extending critical thinking skills, while scheduling tutors and technology for students’ core skills acquisition, independent practice, assessment and remediation/acceleration. In addition, the hybrid school model creates significant cost savings, which are reinvested in programs and people to drive school quality. Third, by reducing staffing requirements, it is easier to fill all our classrooms with top-quality teachers. Finally, this model enables Rocketship schools to operate solely on traditional public school funding, without the need for philanthropy. By individualizing instruction, developing great classroom and school leaders and empowering parents to transform the political system, Rocketship will continue to drive world-class student achievement.

"The gap in learning between students in low-income neighborhoods and students in middle and high income neighborhoods is real and alarming, despite enormous investments of time, energy, and funds." John Danner

2010 Laureates

High Resolves Initiative

Sydney, Australia

Mehrdad Baghai

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Henry Crown Fellowship

An entrepreneur, author and adviser, Mehrdad co-founded High Resolves with his wife Roya in order to create a highly participatory leadership experience that transforms the way high school students see their place in the world.

An entrepreneur, author and adviser, Mehrdad co-founded High Resolves with his wife Roya in order to create a highly participatory leadership experience that transforms the way high school students see their place in the world. Students are engaged through a three-year curriculum consisting of innovative simulations that imprint learning that is far more visceral and lasting than that generated by scholarly discussion. The program gives students the skills and confidence they need to design and lead projects to improve their schools and to serve their communities. To date, High Resolves has engaged over 10,000 students in high schools across Australia and is expanding rapidly.

Aspire Human Capital Management

India

Amit Bhatia

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India Leadership Initiative

Bhatia left a successful career as a CEO of NYSE-listed WNS Knowledge Services, to focus full-time on India's severe job-talent disparity.

Bhatia left a successful career as a CEO of NYSE-listed WNS Knowledge Services, to focus full-time on India's severe job-talent disparity. India is the youngest nation on the planet, with 500 million new job seekers entering the job market in the next 15 years and only a small percentage of them actually considered "skilled" enough to be employed. Aspire provides training to college-age students and the unemployed, partnering with corporations to ensure that students learn skills needed now in the workplace. Aspire is scaling quickly across India's semi-urban and rural areas, with over 30,000 students currently enrolled across 8 Indian states.

Glasswing International

El Salvador

Diego de Sola

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Central America Leadership Initiative

De Sola believes that individuals should be involved, take action, and give back to their communities.

De Sola believes that individuals should be involved, take action, and give back to their communities. A real estate development CEO, de Sola began Glasswing, an innovative volunteering initiative designed to leverage individuals', communities', and companies' financial and material resources together for the betterment of society. Serving as a convening agent and catalyst, Glasswing has mobilized over 12,000 volunteers from various sectors and more than $2m to strengthen health, education and other causes in El Salvador. The independent non-profit sees itself as a "zipper" for society, breaking paradigms and leaving a sense of common purpose in its wake.

Acumen Fund Fellows Program

Jacqueline Novogratz

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Henry Crown Fellowship

Novogratz is seeding the next generation of leadership for the social sector by training young people with a combination of business and nonprofit skills.

Novogratz is seeding the next generation of leadership for the social sector by training young people with a combination of business and nonprofit skills. To date, the Fellows program has trained 24 individuals of 16 different nationalities; all of them furthering the vision of patient capital of the Acumen Fund - the successful nonprofit venture capital fund that invests patient capital in businesses providing critical goods and services to the poor, where Novogratz is founder and CEO. The Fellows Program will launch its first regional program in Kenya in 2011 with the aim of developing thousands of leaders around the world in years to come.

2009 winner

Ashesi University

Ghana

Patrick Awuah

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Africa Leadership Initiative

A transformed Africa begins with a new generation of ethical and entrepreneurial leaders. Patrick Awuah founded Ashesi University in 2002 with a bold mission: to create a new kind of university, one that focuses on quality, ethics and personal empowerment. Ashesi University aims to be the spark of a revitalized Africa; a catalyst for new enterprises, new solutions and a model for other universities in Africa.

2013 Update: In 2011, Ashesi University moved to it's new, permanent campus outside of Accra, Ghana. This will allow the University to grow to over 1,000 students and add majors in engineering, economics and law, as well as expand recruiting and scholarships across Africa. Ashesi remains a leader in undergraduate education in Africa, with 100% of graduates finding quality placement and 95% choosing to remain in Africa.

2009: A transformed Africa begins with a new generation of ethical and entrepreneurial leaders. Patrick Awuah founded Ashesi University in 2002 with a bold mission: to create a new kind of university, one that focuses on quality, ethics and personal empowerment. Ashesi University aims to be the spark of a revitalized Africa; a catalyst for new enterprises, new solutions and a model for other universities in Africa.

Ashesi University offers a 4-year undergraduate liberal arts education with a focus on business, technology and leadership. The rigorous liberal arts education promotes critical thinking skills that give students the confidence to tackle complex problems and make positive contributions in any setting. Ashesi students participate in a required four-year leadership seminar series, which challenges them to discuss issues critical to building a better society. Students identify ways they can be of service in selected communities and volunteer their time, knowledge and skills. Examples of Ashesi student projects include: teaching basic business skills to former child soldiers from Liberia, volunteering at orphanages and working with NGO’s to provide women micro-financing to support their businesses.

The university currently enrolls 424 students, 46% are women and close to 40% of the student body receives financial aid. The Ashesi experience is made rich and varied, with curious students from diverse ethnic and religious backgrounds from across 14 different African countries.

Ashesi has graduated 173 students to date and nearly 100% of Ashesi alumni have found quality employment within months of graduating. Africa’s top firms value their problem-solving skills, work ethic and ethical behavior. While some are starting their own businesses and others are helping existing businesses to succeed; each is helping to revitalize the local economy.

Ashesi’s goal is to broaden their impact within Africa by growing to 2,000 students while maintaining their selective standards, small class sizes, and world-class academic quality. The university has recently broken ground on a new campus outside of Accra, where students of diverse backgrounds can live and study together.

"Our current and future leaders confront an incredible opportunity to drive a major renaissance in Africa. The way we educate our leaders will make all the difference." Patrick Awuah

2009 Laureates

Hope Community Credit Union

Mississippi Delta Region

William Bynum

|

Henry Crown Fellowship

A pioneer in the community banking industry, Bill founded Hope to serve the “unbanked” of the Mississippi Delta Region and has helped thousands to get the resources they need to rebuild their lives and homes following hurricane Katrina.

A pioneer in the community banking industry, Bill founded Hope to serve the “unbanked” of the Mississippi Delta Region and has helped thousands to get the resources they need to rebuild their lives and homes following hurricane Katrina. Hope offers access to affordable financial tools including commercial loans, mortgages, and rebuilding assistance to the nations poorest region and currently has over 27,000 members, 75% from low-wealth communities. Its success in strengthening communities, building assets and improving lives over the last decade has made Hope one of the nation’s leading community development organizations.

Agora Partnerships

Nicaragua

Ricardo Terán

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Central America Leadership Initiative

After being raised and educated outside of his native Nicaragua due to civil war, Ricardo returned to co-found Agora with the conviction that small business entrepreneurs creating jobs in competitive, growth-oriented companies are the keys to attacking pove

After being raised and educated outside of his native Nicaragua due to civil war, Ricardo returned to co-found Agora with the conviction that small business entrepreneurs creating jobs in competitive, growth-oriented companies are the keys to attacking poverty and generating broad-based wealth in poor countries. Agora provides the in-depth consulting and support needed to launch successful, socially responsible enterprises, while their Venture Fund provides long-term strategic capital. Over the next three years Agora will expand operations to serve hundreds of growing businesses in Central America and Mexico.

Project Rebirth

James Whitaker

Henry Crown Fellowship

At the heart of filmmaker Jim Whitaker’s Project Rebirth is a unique film chronicling the strength of human spirit coping with disaster: the aftermath of September 11, 2001, released in 2010.

At the heart of filmmaker Jim Whitaker’s Project Rebirth is a unique film chronicling the strength of human spirit coping with disaster: the aftermath of September 11, 2001, released in 2010. Moving beyond the film, Jim seeks to aid victims of traumatic events, as well as first responders and to improve specialized care and support during and after major disasters with a Project Rebirth Center, currently rebirth-based educational and therapeutic content is being distributed through strategic partnerships with world-renowned research institutions and global service organizations.

2008 winner

VisionSpring

Jordan Kassalow

Henry Crown Fellowship

2013 Update: VisionSpring's success since 2008 has been remarkable: growing from 200,000 to 1.35 million people wearing their glasses, and expanding the number of female Vision Entrepreneurs from 1,000 women in six countries to 8,000 women in 20 nations. While it took 10 years to reach 1 million customers, it will take only two to double that—they reached 525,000 in 2013 alone. In 2009, only 8% of their budget was covered by sales; in 2013, that will reach 50%. In addition, El Salvador is now VisionSpring’s first profitable country, with major regional scaling plans underway.

2008: A successful NY optometrist, Jordan has devised an innovative way to deliver affordable reading glasses to some of the world's poorest hardest to reach communities. He created franchise partnerships to use a "business in a bag" model containing everything that a rural entrepreneur needs to start a business selling reading glasses, thus creating jobs in underserved communities while providing glasses on a sustainable basis for the poor, for whom loss of income due to deteriorating vision is most devastating. VisionSpring now has over 850 "vision entrepreneurs" who have sold nearly 1 million pairs of glasses in India, Mexico, Latin America, and Africa.

Dr. Jordan Kassalow launched VisionSpring (formerly Scojo Foundation) in 2001 with the goal of meeting the global market failure for reading glasses. While working as an optometrist in the developing world, Jordan noticed that over 40% of his patients were losing their jobs because they could no longer see to work. Without clear vision, weavers could not set their looms, farmers could not sort seeds, and artisans could not see to create intricate designs. The loss of income due to deteriorating vision was devastating to poor communities. A pair of ready-made reading glasses, a basic product available in every drugstore in the US, would restore their vision and productivity, yet reading glasses were not available to those living on less than $4 a day.

To address this market failure, Jordan realized he would need to devise a creative, innovative system for delivering affordable reading glasses to the world’s poorest, hardest-to-reach communities. The answer? A “Business in a Bag” containing everything that a rural entrepreneur needs to start a business selling reading glasses, thus creating jobs in underserved communities while providing glasses on a sustainable basis for the poor.

Jordan first focused VisionSpring on developing replicable systems for training entrepreneurs in Latin America and India. In 2006, as a result of his leadership training as a Henry Crown Fellow at the Aspen Institute, Jordan began to develop creative strategies for broadening VisionSpring’s impact to reach millions in need and to create the long-term, lasting global impact that first drove his idea for VisionSpring. He recognized an opportunity to license VisionSpring’s Business in a Bag model to existing rural networks, such as microfinance borrowers and community health workers, thus reducing the burden of building costly new infrastructure and vastly speeding up the time it takes to reach scale. VisionSpring “Franchise Partner” organizations would benefit from the addition of an income-generating product along with the transfer of skills and knowledge gleaned from VisionSpring’s rural sales experience.

Scojo estimates that its economic impact to date is more than $70 million in increased earnings in the world’s poorest communities. A pair of VisionSpring reading glasses can yield a more than 17-fold return on investment in increased productivity for the wearer per year. Further, VisionSprings Vision Entrepreneurs, most of who work on a part-time basis, earn more than $400 in additional income per year. VisionSpring believes its long-term, global impact will occur on multiple levels.

Currently, VisionSpring is building one of the first global networks of organizations providing goods and services to the “Base of the Economic Pyramid.” In the long-term, VisionSpring aims to be the catalyst that proves to large optical and healthcare companies that poor communities represent viable markets, thus prompting the global business community to serve the rural poor with affordable, life-improving products and services.

2008 Laureates

High Resolves Initiative

Australia

Mehrdad Baghai

|

Henry Crown Fellowship

A venture capital entrepreneur and author, Mehrdad has created a hands-on educational initiative to teach high school students about leadership, resolving conflicts, justice, and about becoming purposeful global citizens.

A venture capital entrepreneur and author, Mehrdad has created a hands-on educational initiative to teach high school students about leadership, resolving conflicts, justice, and about becoming purposeful global citizens. Through a creative mix of interactive simulations, role-playing exercises and small group discussions, the High Resolves Initiative seeks nothing less than to transform the way kids see their place in the world and imagines a community in the future where a critical mass of its leaders are trained to think and act in the collective interest. To date, High Resolves Initiative has engaged over 5000 students in high schools in Sydney, Australia and is still expanding.

Hope Community Credit Union

Mississippi Delta Region

William Bynum

|

Henry Crown Fellowship

A pioneer in the community banking industry, Bill founded Hope to serve the “unbanked” of the Mississippi Delta Region and has helped thousands to get the resources they need to rebuild their lives and homes following hurricane Katrina.

A pioneer in the community banking industry, Bill founded Hope to serve the “unbanked” of the Mississippi Delta Region and has helped thousands to get the resources they need to rebuild their lives and homes following hurricane Katrina. Hope offers access to affordable financial tools including commercial loans, mortgages, and rebuilding assistance to the nations poorest region and currently has over 27,000 members, 75% from low-wealth communities. Its success in strengthening communities, building assets and improving lives over the last decade has made Hope one of the nation’s leading community development organizations.

Switch

Guatemala

Sylvia Gereda

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Central America Leadership Initiative

Cultivating and empowering leadership among the youth of Guatemala is the principle objective of Sylvia's project Switch, a magazine designed and edited by and for young people; it succeeds first in its editorial council - a select group of aspiring young j

Cultivating and empowering leadership among the youth of Guatemala is the principle objective of Sylvia's project Switch, a magazine designed and edited by and for young people; it succeeds first in its editorial council - a select group of aspiring young journalists committed to social change. These young people in turn bring the extraordinary accomplishments of young leaders in academics, arts, sports and community work to the nationwide attention of their peers through the publication of weekly profiles. Sylvia Gereda is a courageous journalist and founder of the first independent newspaper in Guatemala - elPeriodico. To date, Switch has featured over 125 such cover stories and continues to inspire the young people of Guatemala with positive role models and expand its message of hope.

Hope Credit Union

WINNER

Aspire

WINNER

Video featuring 2012 Winner Amit Bhatia, founder of Aspire who is building the bridge to prosperity between rural and urban, rich and poor, by giving rural youths the skills to get new economy jobs in India.

LAUREATES 2009

VisionSpring

Winner 2008

Interview with Jordan Kassalow, VisionSpring founder and winner of the

inaugural $100,000. McNulty Prize.

VisionSpring sells an effective, affordable "business in a backpack" for eyeglasses to third-world entrepeneurs, typically local women. By vastly increasing the penetration of eye-care and lowering costs, VisionSpring boosts productivity and expands the work-life of millions in low-income countries. visionspring.org | mcnultyprize.org

Guidelines

Submissions for the 2015 Prize are now closed.

The John P. McNulty Prize recognizes the boldness that Aspen fellows are bringing to bear on the foremost social, economic and environmental challenges of our time. The winner will receive $100,000 to further his or her project; a $10,000 award will be made to each of the laureates.

This year the John P. & Anne Welsh McNulty Foundation has established the Catalyst Fund to provide support for high potential projects. All applications submitted for the Prize will be considered for modest support from the McNulty Prize Catalyst Fund.

Criteria

“Whatever you can do, or dream you can do, begin it. Boldness has genius, power, and magic in it. Begin it now." -Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

Applicants are asked to make a written statement of the project, address its impact, creativity and lasting contribution and present supporting materials. Videos are encouraged but not required. Entries are judged on each of the following criteria:

Impact

Describe the impact of your project on individuals and/or the community. Where applicable, include number of people reached and financial impact. What is the evidence that the project has been accepted and embraced by those it benefits? Indicate the criteria used for measuring your project’s achievements. How is impact assessed?

Creativity

How does the project reflect innovative or unique approaches to addressing issues/solving problems? How is the implementation exceptional?

Sustainability / Lasting Contribution

Please explain the financial structure of your project, how is it funded and how will it be sustained? What is the potential for and/or evidence of the long term impact of this project? How has the project taken on a life of it's own? What is your vision for the future and next steps? What are the next steps? Does the project show promise to be modified or expanded to meet unmet needs? Is there evidence that your project can serve as a prototype for others?

Aspen Global Leadership Network

The Aspen Global Leadership Network (AGLN) is a growing, worldwide community of entrepreneurial leaders from business, government and the nonprofit sector -- currently, more than 2000 "Fellows" from 48 countries -- who share a commitment to enlightened leadership and to using their extraordinary creativity, energy and resources to tackle the foremost societal challenges of our times.

All share the common experience of participating in the Henry Crown Fellowship or one of the dozen Aspen Institute leadership initiatives it has inspired in the United States, Africa, Central America, India, China and the Middle East.